Rocacorba Daily

Friday March 21, 2014

Curated by Matt de Neef - March 21, 2014

In this morning’s edition of the Rocacorba Daily news digest: Milan-San Remo route finalised; A guide to the Spring Classics; Jonathan Tiernan-Locke doping hearing by the end of the month; UCI updates ‘footpaths’ rule; Was the Paris-Nice experiment a success?; Introducing InCycle, a new cycling TV show; More details emerge about minimum passing distance trial in Queensland; Cyclist-dooring man has a link to cycling; Mbody smart shorts measure muscle activity.

Milan-San Remo route finalised

RCS Sport, the organisers of Milan-San Remo, announced overnight that no further changes will be made to the route of Sunday’s race.

Rain is forecast for this year’s Milan-San Remo, but no snow as yet.

The news will be well received by sprinters with the addition of an extra climb near the end — to avoid a potential landslide in the case of heavy rain — not being required.

This year’s edition of the race was supposed to include, for the first time, the tough climb of the Pompeiana between the Cipressa and Poggio, but safety concerns about the climb ensured it wouldn’t be included.

The race will now follow a 294km route which is almost identical to that last used in 2007 when Oscar Freire won over Allan Davis and Tom Boonen.

A guide to the Spring Classics

The Spring Classics get underway with Milan San-Remo on Sunday, starting a month or so of fantastic one-day racing. CyclingNews has prepared a handy little guide with information about each of the races, what defines them, how they’re different and who won last year. Worth a look.

Jonathan Tiernan-Locke doping hearing by the end of the month

The chief executive of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), Andy Parkinson, has confirmed that the case of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke will be heard before the end of March.

Tiernan-Locke was found to have anomalies in his biological passport and received a letter from the UCI asking him to explain. Tiernan-Locke was removed from the Team Sky website’s list of riders in late 2013 and the 29-year-old has not raced with Sky in 2014.

Speaking at the Tackling Doping in Sport conference on Wednesday Parkinson reportedly said: “The issue with [the] case is that it was in the public domain earlier than was ideal, and earlier than we put out a notice of charge.

“The process has seemed longer than it has been because we only received the notification after Christmas. Biological passport cases are difficult; difficult to run and you need a lot of expert witnesses. So we’re coordinating all that.”

UCI updates ‘footpaths’ rule

The UCI came under fire a few weeks ago about its so-called ‘footpaths rule’ which forbids riders from riding anywhere but on the designated roadway during races. The problem was that the UCI wasn’t enforcing the issue, leading to criticisms from some riders and many outside the pro peloton.

According to The Inner Ring, the UCI has quietly issued an updated to the rule, but it would appear the update is even more confusing than the original wording.

“

It is strictly prohibited to use sidewalks/pavements, paths or cycle paths that do not form part of the course (i.e. those separated by kerbs, verges, level changes or other physical features) if a dangerous situation is created inter alia for other riders, spectators or race personnel by such action or if such action procures a significant advantage over other riders.

To quote from The Inner Ring:

“

Rather than tidying up a rule we seem to have more questions and uncertainty. What is a “dangerous situation”? For example is hopping over a kerb dangerous given a rider could mess it up and crash or is it only dangerous if an accident happens?

Rules should be black and white, crystal clear leave no doubt. By contrast the revised wording takes a confusing rule and manages to make it more ambiguous. Chapeau!

Was the Paris-Nice experiment a success?

This year the organisers of Paris-Nice (ASO) did away with tradition and removed all mountain-top finishes and time trials from the race. It was a move that surprised many, and led to more than a little scepticism among fans and riders alike, but did it pay off?

“I think it has been an interesting experiment and a successful one,” BMC team director Yvon Ledannois told Bicycling. “Regardless it is not the profile that makes a race but the riders. We’ve seen a great race from the start with lots of fast stages and crazy finishes.”

“It’s been a success,” seven-time winner Sean Kelly echoed. Seeing so many guys so close in the final days is really interesting. If we’d had a mountaintop finish or a time trial then we would have had much bigger time gaps. Really big riders are getting dropped so you can’t say it is too easy.”

Not everyone was so impressed.

“For me it’s kind of frustrating not having any stage on a big mountain or time trial,” said Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang before the start of Stage 7.

Introducing InCycle, a new cycling TV show

InCycle is a new cycling show that’s been created by sports management company IMG and which will be hitting TV screens later this month. Here’s a trailer:

IMG holds the television rights for all RCS events (Giro d’Italia, Milan- San Remo, Lombardia, etc.) and Flanders Classics events (Tour of Flanders and other classics) as well as other smaller races. They have a 40% market share of the TV licensing in cycling and have come up quietly as a major competitor to the ASO (who owns the TdF, Paris-Roubaix, etc).

The show will presumably promote almost everything IMG owns the licensing to. The 24-minute show will be distributed through television (SBS will be picking it up and have dropped Cycling Central), in-flight systems, and online. It’ll have tech segments, pro interviews, tips, news, previews, and so on.

Better up your game ASO …

More details emerge about minimum passing distance trial in Queensland

Queensland drivers who overtake cyclists with less than a metre’s clearance will be fined $330 and lose three demerit points under a two-year trial which starts next month. These are the same penalties for running a red light or failing to stop at a stop sign.

On roads where the speed limit is 40km/h, 50km/h or 60km/h a metre’s clearance will be required; on roads with a higher speed limit 1.5 metres is required. Motorists will be allowed to cross double white lines to pass cyclists, if it is safe to do so.

Cyclist-dooring man has a link to cycling

Here’s something about that horrible dooring incident in Melbourne earlier this week. The guy who opened the door is Jeff Hunter, the CEO of Hunter Products, a company which distributes Huffy Bikes (among a range of other products) to Big W.

Turns off THAT GUY who doored the cyclist unapologetically is a multi-millionaire who sells HUFFY bikes to BIG W. Small world. @cyclingtips

Mbody smart shorts measure muscle activity

Wearable devices are all the rage at the moment (see here and here) and the Wearable Technology Show in London this week has provided a glimpse into the future of this space.

One of the items that could be of interest to cyclists are the Mshorts. While they aren’t cycling-specific, they do feature built-in sensors which can monitor the activity of your hamstring and quadricep muscles. The MCell control centre then allows you to analyse your muscle activity in real-time or after the training session.

As you can see in the video above the Mbody system can provide information about the percentage of work done by each leg. It can also show your muscle load (to help optimise power and techique) and the distribution of work between different muscle groups.

The system currently retails for around 900 euros but prices will naturally come down as this sort of technology starts to become more common.

Actually, we just had the mildest winter here for years, never got down to below -2´for more than 3 nights…..rode heaps….yesterday was 19´and crystal blue skys….HTFU son ;-) (and the shit weather makes the Spring Classics SOOOOO much more exciting here….a real sense of occasion! :-) ….we also have busy roads like these to have to put up with…I´ll put up with the winter here – having ridden in Sydney for 15 years you can have it :-) (not saying you live in Sydney, but you can see what I mean! ;-) )

Ralph

man that’s gorgeous… *packs bag for europe*

xrider3464

Just wait ´till I post the pics from the Ronde in about 10 days! THE best day of the year!… so far this year my Spring Classics list is Omloop van Vlaanderan, Het Nieuwsblad, the Ronde in 10 days, Roubaix the week after that, and then LBL…as well as DreiLander Giro in June (Stelvio) ….so you see putting up with winter has some advantages after all :-)

Peter

THAT’S IT! I’m never buying another Huffy bike ever again… :p

Abdu

Jeff Hunter sold his house in Brighton to Ricky Ponting last year for $10m. I’m never buying Ricky’s book nor a $10m house in Brighton as my protest!

Pete

I made the mistake of looking at the poll in The Age “Jeff Hunter” link. Apparently 44% of people think the passenger is at fault, and 21% think the cyclist is.

ed-sydney

I do not condone the behavior of the taxi passengers at all and although much of the debate is centering around whether she was riding in a bike lane or not for me the issue is that this cyclist failed to identify the most likely risk (being doored) & she failed to adjust her riding to the situation (confirming it was safe to overtake rather than squeeze up through a narrow corridor).

This incident demonstrates my belief that we are allowing people to ride on the road without ensuring they have any level of competency or sufficient awareness of the risks involved.

timf

Ed, with respect (despite the fact that you’ve just called me and hundreds of other Melbourne cyclists incompetent) I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. We have trams in Melbourne and they create some tricky pinch points. The alternative to what she did is to walk your bike out of the city, or drive a car.

Dave

Or merge into the line of traffic, or pick a more suitable parallel street with less congestion and/or fewer pinch points.

It is true that no demonstration of competence is required for cyclists to use the road, and sadly too many people go on this requirement rather than proactively seeking to improve their competence and become excellent road users.

Arfy

Go and tell that to a 13 or 14 yr old who, by law, has to use the road and these stupidly narrow bike lanes (which the “offenders” probably didn’t realise was a bike lane). I don’t get all this argument about “competence” when our laws are clearly requiring some of the least competent and most vulnerable to use their bikes on the road with such inadequate facilities.

Dave

Ideally you wouldn’t have to tell a 13 year old that because we would have proper cycling education in the school system, same as schools have to teach kids other essential skills such as tying their shoelaces, catching a bus or crossing the road.

They should be learning safe habits for streets in primary school, then passing a proficiency test and being allowed to ride on roads at age 12.

Arfy

Pass a proficiency test, what, before they’re allowed to ride a bike??? Please!!! BTW, I don’t know of any school teaching tying shoelaces or catching a bus. These life skills are usually left up to the parents.

The point is, you don’t see many teenagers use the roads because they find them too dangerous. And teenagers aren’t usually afraid to snub the rules, so it’s interesting when they take to the footpaths instead. They obviously feel safer there, and have probably had it drilled into them by their parents about how dangerous the roads are.

Dave

Thanks for misrepresenting me, I thought it was a good point but it was a pleasant surprise to find it was so good that it couldn’t be coherently rebutted.

I am not suggesting a test be required to ride a bike on footpaths, shared paths, bicycle roads or local streets – these would be unrestricted. Passing a test would only be required if a person wanted to ride on roads with a speed limit of 60 km/h or higher. No license = use the footpath alongside a 60+ road at no higher than jogging pace and make way for all pedestrians.

If you’ve never seen a teacher trying to get a 5-6 year old to tie their shoelaces then you’re obviously not hanging around schools enough. The level of parental responsibility in education is at an all-time low these days with many kids arriving at primary school still speaking baby babble, and right through to secondary school the teaching of the proper curriculum is getting stunted by the extra time spent on basic skills which parents are not passing on.

Ralph

I think you hit a key issue here Dave – you actually have to be pretty good on a bike to be a good commuter in Australia. It’s great fun / rewarding if you are, but most people aren’t at that level. You can see it in this taxi dooring incident; it’s average driving, below-average passenger/pedestrian and probably an average cyclist, and we get an accident. Think of the same situation in Denmark, it probably wouldn’t happen because the road system largely precludes this it, irrespective of abilities. Cycling is not easy here they way it is in some other countries, and until it is not that many people will ride and these incidents will keep happening. Hopefully the numbers keep pushing up though which will force changes! (though hopefully not via injury/death).

ed – sydney

Hi tim, I used to live in Melbourne (1999, 2003-2004) so know it well. No it’s cyclists everywhere. I travel a lot with work & take my bike so ride all over the place with different bunches. my comment is directed at the basic level of competency, or incompetency, so many riders have. THe alternative was to just ride behind the taxi. If it takes 2 mins more big deal. We all bang on about asking cars to patient, why shouldn’t cyclists be too?

Dave

I agree. Squeezing into a narrow gutter (NOT a bike lane – see ARR153(4)(a) to understand why not) to undertake at such high speed shows a complete disregard for her own safety, a lack of attention and a lack of competence.

That’s why I would like to see the 50 km/h default speed limit removed, and replaced with just 40 km/h for streets and 60 km/h for roads.
Cyclists would then be permitted unrestricted use of 40 streets, while to ride on a 60+ road would require passing a theory and practical test to demonstrate their competence on general road rules and those specifically applying to cyclists (ARR 245-262). A cyclist who has not attained a road license then they would be permitted to ride on the footpath alongside a 60+ road at up to jogging speed.

Ed2

Who ah camel….

Let’s stop blaming the victim here for a second.

The tram superstop (not around in your stay Ed) squeezes the road badly there, so the cyclist doesn’t have 1-2m gap to a car for about 300m there. If you want a big gap you need to block the entire lane, which clearly isn’t feasible in that clip or for most of the day.

This isn’t anything about rider skills, in fact I’d argue the vast majority of crashes with cars probably don’t either.

She had slowed, hence why a fast swinging door didn’t kill her. At a guess she’s going about 10-15 km/hr.

This is all about an arrogant pig, uneducated in the road rules, without any manners or human compassion. Sadly, not unique in car driving public in Melbourne.

Dave

Sorry, I must not have got the two wheels good, everyone else bad.

I’m not suggesting the passenger was not at fault, what I am suggesting is that the cyclist could have helped herself by not riding so aggressively (and negligently) in such a tight gutter which offered no margin for error or stopping distance.

choppy

Incycle, schmycle…..another week has past and still no ‘the bike lane’!! Was even reminded daily by the media (in a sad way) with all the talk of dooring, crashes and lack of cbd ‘bike lanes’.

Sean

I agree, the bike lane is a fantastic show, it’s heads and shoulders above anything else thats produced locally.

ed-sydney

A metre matters – it is an important message and I fully support it but I
think it has to work both ways. For me the message in its current format is putting the responsibility on everyone else for a cyclist’s safety and not making cyclists aware of their own responsibilities. Cyclists need to be aware that they should also give a metre to pedestrians when overtaking them on paths/walkways and also to parked cars so they don’t get doored – if you cant give a metre you wait. If the woman in Melbourne had waited until she had at least a metre before overtaking the taxi this accident wouldn’t have happened.

Abdu

If the cyclist had waited until she had more than a metre, she’d be blocking the road or stationery in traffic. Fact is, Melbourne CBD is crowded and cramped at times. Many people have pointed out that lane is tiny, not a proper bike lane.

Blaming the victim doesn’t help. Not when you have shock jocks like Neil Mitchell (most ‘popular’ one in Melbourne) fanning the flames by his usual anti-cycling rants, especially his post “I have sympathy for those men” on the 3AW website. Cue uneducated morons screaming “bikes should be banned! / pay rego / are out of control” etc.

Murdoch press front page the next day said Bike wars!

Unhelpful too when this could have been solved easily by the three men showing compassion for a woman (sorry if you think that sexist, but I think that made it worse) who was clearly hurt, not abused her, etc.

In a

Jay Fradkin

I lol’d when I read cycling central was cut for this new “InCycle”. They never got that show right IMO, it always seemed to be populated with the opinions of outsiders or amateurs. I especially disliked the ideas Anthony Tan put forth for some reason… cant put my finger on it… always seemed either obvious, irritating or wrong.
The bike lane is basically the same concept as cyclin central, but the contrast is stark… you guys just nail it.

The last straw that showed they had failed was when they started including infomercials for bike shops in the program. It would have been okay if the show was hosted by Larry Emdur, Kerri-Anne Kennelly or Richard Wilkins as the intent would have been transparent, but to do it on a show trying to claim some semblance of journalistic integrity was doomed to have unintended consequences.

Now there’s no CC it is time for the Tan Man to get a gold watch (or with the efficiency review maybe a gold-painted plastic watch) unless he really does have compromising photos of Les Murray and can’t be fired.

Sean

Dave, i’m not usually one to pass on leaked information, but you can have this one tip off. Don’t spread it around ok!

Allegedly CT has been trying to head hunt and hire Mr T@n to take Scott McGrory’s spot on the bike lane. T@n is playing hardball in regard to salary, sign-on fee and maternity leave entitlements, so it’s taking a little longer than expected to reach an agreement.

Dave

Nice try, I got as far as the maternity leave.

Dumping Scott should help save a few bucks in Wardrobe – I think he’s a green room bully and uses his Olympic champion status to make sure he gets the best shirt each time.

Andy Logan

Unfortunately the introduction of the sofa and Tanman sprouting off something he read in cyclingnews the week before did nothing for show. I much preferred the old version with a combination of highlights, interviews etc.

Sven Nijs

Agreed Andy. The ‘boys club’ bias and Mike’s fawning over guests was starting to grate too…
Ultimately, I wanted more content and less of the hosts complimenting one another.
Hopefully Al Hinds and Kate Bates careers won’t have suffered too much.

Dave

Kate did an excellent job reporting on the TDU for Fox Sports this year, I think she’s angling for a trip to Rio to do colour commentary and shouldn’t have much trouble getting it.

Dave

I would like it if Julia Zemiro hosted the TDU coverage instead of Tomo – she’s funny (unlike Tomo), she would be smart enough to know she knows little about the sport and should ask the experts instead (unlike Tomo), would be able to pronounce European names (unlike Tomo) and is the hottest presenter at SBS (definitely unlike Tomo).

Sean

Good call on Zemiro haha I reckon there is a news reader thats way hotter than her though, will watch tonight’s news and report back coach dave.

Sean Doyle

Julia is hot but the news reader, Carina is smoking!
In all seriousness though. Once CC started to use some of Bike Lanes best features ie. more casual and panel discussion, it was a signal. I will miss the wrap up of local racing including the mtb content that the Bike Lane doesn’t normally cover.

Dave

If you want hot newsreaders in Australia there can only be one winner – Leigh Sales.

Ben Sartori

My mum would disagree with that very last part of your statement

Dave

I also approve of the move. Over the last 18 months the quality of Cycling Central descended like a Wigging – slow, ugly and with an inevitable crash.

Playing a pre-produced show will be cheaper than producing CC in-house, which is money freed up for either less saturated ads during race coverage or doing a better job – like affording a tripod to keep the camera steady for Scott’s daily OGE segments at Le Tour.

Roger

+1000 for your comments about Mr Tan. I’m guessing that most journalists these days do there research from google, but his just seem so much more obvious to be the case…and his comments during last yrs tour…wtf??

How good would Keenan + R. McCewwan (spelling?) teaming up for hosting the tour!!!!

Tomo’s done a decent job all the years, he can do the “this broadcast is brought to you by…” voiceovers.

And finally, rather than the live commentators doing it, flyovers of historical monuments and chateaus should have a voiceover by Julia Zemiro or Les Murray.

Sean

I can’t stand the sound or sight of Tan, simply hearing him speak is offensive.

I also don’t think much of Kate Bates or Al Hinds, maybe they weren’t given the tools they needed or whatever, I dunno. Neither of them are TV people, as a viewer, I find them very boring and bland. I think I hated Tomo the least out of them all, he actually does a pretty good job most times. That said, he struggles to think on the fly, which is kind of important in a role like his. Unlike the others, I think Tomo has made a decent contribution to cycling.

Tan, Al and Kate, please hush and don’t speak publicly again.

Jay Fradkin

Perhaps a little harsh, but I agree. Kate in particular seemed really awkward in front of the camera…
A lot of the time I was struck by the thought “why are these people in particular on this show, what makes them special enough to have been selected from other candidates?”. Whenever watching the tour or whatever, I always relished when an actual expert opened their mout e.g. Henk Vogels or that other balding dude.. cant remember his name.
I feel like I could have done a better job at race analysis than those guys and I’m just some hubbard C grader in Canberra… but then its always harder to do something than to imagine it.

Dave

Kate would be a lot better if she was just doing what she does best – live colour commentary during a race – although Rachel Neylan did an even better job for the World Championships last year. She’s just not enough of a TV pro to do a good job with the on-camera interviews and pre-recorded puff pieces.

About the new shows – In the Hub or whatever it is, I just liked the quality of its production but that is it. The content is below par and I’m sorry but I don’t really care about the opinion of people on that show.

Now this show, InCycle or whatever it is, has Declan Quigley as its host. I would randomly pick any guy from the street and he will sound more exciting than Declan. He’s the most boring commentator currently operating in cycling.

Initially, I was worried that these new shows will try to grab the niche of The Bike Lane but after watching them, I’m not bothered.

WELCOME TO VELOCLUB INSIDER

VeloClub Insider is an exclusive membership that gains you first access to our best stories,
exclusive content curated just for you, as well as rides, events, training plans, pro-deals and more
that will connect you with a likeminded community of cycling enthusiasts.

HELP US CUSTOMISE YOUR EXPERIENCE

CONTENT PREFERENCES:

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VELOCLUB INSIDER?

VeloClub Insider is an exclusive membership that gains you first access to our best stories,
exclusive content curated just for you, as well as rides, events, training plans, pro-deals and more
that will connect you with a likeminded community of cycling enthusiasts.